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DJay (Terrence Howard) is a pimp and drug dealer who is dissatisfied with his life. After acquiring a keyboard and reacquainting himself with an old friend from school, Key (Anthony Anderson), who has become a sound technician, DJay decides to try his hand at making hip hop songs.

Key and his sound-mixer friend Shelby (DJ Qualls) help DJay put together several "flow" songs in which he expresses the frustrations of a small-time hustler struggling to survive. DJay quickly proves to have a real talent for lyrics, and his first fixed-length song, done at the urging of these friends, appears to have a decent chance of becoming a hit and getting local radio play.

The group experiences many setbacks throughout the creative process. DJay must hustle those around him in order to procure proper equipment and recording time, and Key's relationship with his wife becomes strained. DJay throws out one of his prostitutes, Lexus, for ridiculing his art. DJay's pregnant prostitute, Shug (Taraji P. Henson), joins in the creative process, singing hooks, and the group eventually records several fixed-length tracks, including "Whoop That Trick" and their primary single "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp". After their first recording, DJay begins to show a romantic interest in Shug.

DJay's friend, Arnel (Isaac Hayes), informs him that Skinny Black (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), a successful Memphis rapper, will be returning to the neighborhood for a Fourth of July party. DJay gains admittance to the party under the pretext of providing marijuana, with the intention of giving Skinny Black his demo tape. Black is dismissive at first, but after a long night of reminiscing DJay successfully persuades him into taking the tape.

Before leaving the party, however, DJay discovers that the drunken Black has destroyed his tape, leaving it in the toilet. When DJay confronts Skinny Black, Black laughs at the idea of touring with DJay and insults him. In a fit of rage, DJay begins beating Skinny Black. During the confrontation Skinny Black manages to break the chain around DJays neck, which was a gift from Shug.

Black pulls out a gun, but DJay quickly disarms him and pistol whips him. DJay aims the gun at Black but suddenly comes to the realization of what he has done. While he attempts to resuscitate the unconscious Black, a member of Black's crew enters the bathroom and quickly pulls out his gun, which results in DJay shooting him in the arm. DJay then resorts to using the wounded man as a human shield to make his escape.

DJay arrives home to find the police waiting for him. DJay turns himself in and tells Nola to keep his writing pad, with his rap lyrics. He tells her that "she is in charge" of getting his songs on local radio stations. While Shug tearfully watches DJay being led away in handcuffs, one of Black's entourage (juicy j) takes advantage of his defenseless position to deliver a sucker punch. DJay is charged for assault and possession of a firearm and is sentenced to 11 months in prison.

While serving his time, DJay gets a visit from Key. When Key asks DJay if he really knew Skinny Black, DJay reveals that he made it up in order to keep the group's dream alive. DJay learns from Key that Nola (Taryn Manning) has hustled the local radio DJs into playing his songs, which have become local hits. Key says he and Nola want to discuss his future plans. The film ends as we see a duo of prison guards who have their own rap group asking DJay to listen to their demo, much as DJay had approached Skinny Black. Djay accepts their tape and responds with: "You know what they say, everybody gotta have a dream".

Terrence Howard initially turned down the role of DJay. He reportedly was attempting to avoid being typecast as a "pimp" archetype. However, after recognizing the complexity and depth of the character, he reversed his earlier decision and took on the role.

As concepts of both hustle and flow are unique to African American culture, it turned out to be nearly impossible to find proper translations for international release of the film. For example, the Russian translation of the title means "The fuss and the torrent".

The film experienced many years of near-misses and outright rejection from major studios and potential financiers before finally being backed by its longtime supporter John Singleton. In the DVD extras Singleton says that he decided at last to put up the money himself because he was exasperated at his friends' not getting what their film deserved.

The film received positive reviews overall. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an 82% "fresh" rating.[2]Metacritic gives the film a rating of 68/100 based on 37 reviews.[3] The Boston Globe said, "Some will find it chicly inspired, recalling blaxploitation's heyday with its grimy urban realism. Some will rightly find it corny, absurd, and an insultingly limited presentation of options for the most disenfranchised African-Americans."[4]

According to Entertainment Weekly, "The home-studio recording sequences in Hustle & Flow are funky, rowdy, and indelible. Brewer gives us the pleasure of watching characters create music from the ground up."[5]